Silent Diwali & a Smoky NCR

This year we did not celebrate Diwali as Krishnan’s Chachaji passed away. We just put up a few lights and sent Diwali messages to everyone. We didn’t even make sweets at home. When my Mama called me on Diwali day from Chennai to talk about something else, we couldn’t hear each other because of the crackers going off around his house in Chennai. During the day we went to meet a friend in Noida and it was a like any other day … not Diwali. Later that day Dhanush and Krishnan were speaking on the phone and once again it was difficult to hear each other as the crackers were being burst in Chennai. In contrast, there was deathly silence in Gurgaon ….. except for a few crackers that went off late on Diwali night.

The anti-cracker brigade succeeded in ensuring Delhi NCR has a silent Diwali but what a bunch of hypocrites they are !!!!

Yesterday neither Krishnan could go for his swimming nor Amma and I could go for our walk because we woke up to a Gurgaon that was smogged out. Our eyes were stinging and you could sense that the air was thick as you breathed in. We shut the doors and tried using air-conditioning off and on just to be able to breathe. I ordered several packs of “Nasofilters” and we just didn’t step out of the house !

A few things to consider before you join the ranks of the rabid HMV’s and other self-styled “environment” activists in their tirade against Diwali and firecrackers –

1. The AQI on Monday morning (the morning after Diwali) was 306 as reported on many news websites. Miraculously all the pollutants that the few firecrackers released a few hours before just disappeared.
2. Yesterday the AQI was hovering around 700 – a full five days after the dreaded Diwali night…. why??
3. Yesterday the hypocrites of Delhi NCR who own 5 cars and send the most expensive one to pick up their only child from school everyday and never carpool (?$&*%) celebrated something called “Halloween”. For the plebeian masses of the Indian hinterland – this is an imported festival from the West and very environment friendly as this tweet states –
4. Only in India we diss our native festivals and celebrate imported festivals with more fervour to be seen as being modern. Christmas is an imported festival and the conversion mafia has ensured that nearly all of the North Eastern states are Christian and now Punjab and TamilNadu are seeing the conversion epidemic. So in another month, we will have thousands of candles being burnt and here is some detail about their contribution to pollution -…candle free Christmas anyone? My lungs demand it.

   

5. During Eid celebrations each year, millions of goats/sheep are “sacrificed” … besides being gory as in the picture below, please do read the Wikipedia excerpt on water required for production of “beef” compared to the highly nutritious but humble “potatoes” –

   

   

   Here is the link to the Wikipedia article from which I have taken the above screenshot – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_meat_production.

We don’t burst crackers usually on Diwali but next Diwali, I will burst crackers because my fellow Tamilians in Sivakasi make a living by making these firecrackers. I certainly would like innovation to be brought into firecrackers to make them more green but for all those who diss Diwali and the celebrations using firecrackers, please read every point that I have made above – pollution in Delhi NCR is a year round phenomenon caused by road dust and vehicular emissions, not one day of cracker bursting.

Stop using plastic bags, stop using plastic masks during Halloween, stop smoking, stop using plastic Christmas decorations, stop using a fuel guzzling car to pick up “one” child, stop eating meat, stop the shopping sprees that add to the landfills, stop buying bottled water, stop buying cars and cycle/walk everywhere….. before you start shaming Hindus celebrating Diwali with firecrackers. 

Krishnan and I leave a very small carbon footprint, my mother, even less – we don’t buy plastic bottles of water, we use the metro to go to most places, we don’t have children (probably out biggest contribution to our beloved nation), we don’t have a microwave, we are vegetarians (have always been since birth), we don’t smoke….so I guess we have earned our right to celebrate Diwali with firecrackers.

Reality check –

 

Suggested reading –

Do read this article that was published last year on TOI – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/usual-suspects-vehicles-industrial-emissions-behind-foul-play-all-year/articleshow/66228517.cms